CHROMA magazine
identity DECEMBER 2015
on the cover:
KESTON KUECHEL - p. 028
CHROMA
magazine
A publication celebrating young & talented creatives from the VSAA photography community & beyond. December 2015 Volume 1 Issue 4 Based in Vancouver, Washington Editor: Ruby Becker Advisor: Abby Harris Staff: 18 issuu.com/chromamagazine chromamag2015@gmail.com All photographs belong to the artist and have been published with their permission. DO NOT copy or share any images without explicit permission from Chroma Magazine. Thank you for respecting the photographers featured and the integrity of their work.
EDITOR’S LETTER
Our identities are intricate and unique. Composed of perspectives and experiences, our voices radiate in distinct tones – singular to ourselves & what we have to say. For our last issue of 2015, the Chroma Magazine team has decided to explore the pieces that make up an “identity”. I hope you find inspiration in the work of these very talented individuals & thank you for reading Chroma Magazine. Ruby Becker Editor
ellie josephson // 008 kallie hutchinson // 014 anna cornwell // 020 keston kuechel // 028 betsy hanrahan // 034 devon macgregor // 040 audrey maddux // 048 adam brendgard // 054 madeleine newton // 060 olivia madrid // 068 kaylee kepple // 076 louise hewitt // 082 jane greene // 088 kayla sousa // 096 makena wilcox // 102 ruby becker // 108 sabrina pruett // 114 colby bishop // 122 abby harris // 130
identity crisis ELLIE JOSEPHSON
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UNTITLED KALLIE HUTCHINSON
I am a dancer. I decided to take the idea of the identity of a dancer to inspire this series. As dancers we are often judged by the way we look or our body type and not necessarily our dancing capabilities. I decided to use my model’s face as her “identity” for these photos and deliberately kept it hidden in all of the shots. I wanted to shed light on this topic and how prevalent it is in the dance community.
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pieces ANNA CORNWELL
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texture & color KESTON KUECHEL
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sutures BETSY HANRAHAN WHAT DID YOU DO? I created a series based upon my identity. I created these photos by taking self portraits with my Canon T3i. I took the photos in Camera Raw and edited them with Photoshop CS6. In Photoshop, I decreased the saturation, upped the contrast, and played around with layers. I was able to explore Photoshop a lot more with the extreme edits, which are based upon the movie poster for The Lobster. The photos are of different parts of my body, isolated by using the lasso tool. The body parts are placed in patterns on a dark salmon coloured background. WHY DID YOU DO IT? At first, I had no direction. I had no idea what to do, for I don’t really have a specific group with which I identify. At first, I was thinking of doing a series of biblical allusions, paying homage to my religion. But, I didn’t feel committed to the idea. Then, I was watching this YouTube show, Good Mythical Morning, and I saw the poster for The Lobster. I didn’t know how it would connect to me, but I knew as soon as I started, I would be able to feel it out. Through the process, I was able to figure it out. I didn’t know what to do at first because my identity does not rely on other people. My series ended up being reflective my original predicament. There is no group I identify with, thus, in my series it is only me.
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DARK PLACE: the garden DEVON MACGREGOR
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AUDREY MADDUX
I thought about the concept of “identity” for the longest time. I thought about self portraits, a day in the life series, and portraits of strangers. I was sitting at home and all of a sudden I thought, “art, art is a part of my identity, it has been and will continue to be,” and decided to incorporate that into my series. My younger sister is in her second year at VSAA and I wanted to take her to experience art outside of school. I had this really complex idea about experiencing art and the way it impacts the development of your identity. I took her to the Portland Art Museum and photographed her reactions to the art which was also extra cute because when I asked her to go with me, she sighed and asked how long it would take but I don’t think she ended up hating it as much as she thought she would. In this way, my series is more about identity through the process than the product.
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lumens ADAM BRENDGARD
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MADELEINE NEWTON For this project, I created a series of photos that are based off of friendship. I interviewed 5 sets of best friends, and asked them questions about their friendship. I asked questions like: How did you know that you wanted to be friends? How did you meet? What is your favorite memory? Although the answers that I got ended up being very interesting, the point of asking these questions was to photograph their reactions to my questions. I did this because I think that that the people you surround yourself with say a lot about who you are. I also personally think that friendship is completely undervalued, and these photos really show the complex relationships that friends can have.
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features OLIVIA MADRID
KAYLEE KEPPLE
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overlay LOUISE HEWITT What did you do? For this series, I picked people in my photo class and took basic and relaxed photos of them. Then, I spent some time thinking about what imagery in nature they remind me of, and worked some magic in Photoshop to create a clean background and overlay the nature I had chosen. Why did you do it? I chose this idea because I’ve had the idea of an “overlay” photo series for a very long time. It isn’t the most original idea, but I know I needed to get it out of my system before I could move on to other photo shoots. The idea came mostly from Ruby Becker’s Core project (I believe last year?) and I wanted to try my hand at something similar. The images that I set over the people came from the images I saw in my brain when I spend time with them—Audrey reminds me of a pool in the middle of summer, Keston makes me see intricate patterns in ice, Tara is fire. All that was left was to make it happen!
pieces JANE GREENE
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WHAT DID YOU DO? I set up a little “studio” in my room, with a white sheet as a backdrop, and a lamp as my studio lighting. I shined a flashlight on a disco ball, and got some interesting light patterns, as well as shadows. I then edited the photos in Photoshop, I turned a few black and white, and used the polygonal lasso tool to select parts of the photo and turn the selections various shades of black and white. WHY DID YOU DO IT? I wanted to play up the idea that it is not one thing that defines any of us, but many different things. As you’ll see in many of my photos, there are patterns and repeating lines, or shapes. This was meant to represent the different parts of us. I like the idea that we are all wildly different people, and no one has the same “identity”. I was also experimenting with new lighting and editing techniques, so this was kind of a step outside of my comfort zone.
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ipseity
KAYLA SOUSA
WHAT DID YOU DO? I considered the concept of identity for a long time and as a photographer, I’ve never really used myself as my subject. Instead of looking at the general and vast topic of identity as a whole or at that of others, I decided to focus on myself this series. When I first started a film photographer, I loved shooting still images of miniatures but when I started doing digital, decided I liked doing portrait photography the best. If you want to get to know me without seeing me create art or talking, you can take a step into my room. The wall by my bed is covered in letters, drawings, concert and movie tickets, photographs and essentially- memories of people, places accomplishments, events and things I hold dear to me. The dresser at my bed side has a shelf with tangible representations of these memories as well and for this series, I decided to tell the story of my identity through these objects. WHY DID YOU DO IT? For this shoot, I also experimented with using the prime lens more. The depth of field allowed me to isolate the object right in front of the camera as it was the main focal point which worked to emphasize the importance of the object. For me, this was a great experience to look back at things, places and people I love and the memories I’ll never forget. I believe that these memories are a large part of who I am and will remind me of who I’ll always be, they can stand as a representation of me at any time.
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looking past the eyes MAKENA WILCOX
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RUBY BECKER Sometimes we need to say no.
SABRINA PRUETT
HOME Hold // Built For The Sea Insane // Flume ft. Moon Holiday Tessellate // Alt-J No Diggity // Chet Faker Pacify Her // Melanie Martinez Florida Kilos // Lana Del Rey Colors // Halsey That’s What We Call Love // Robert DeLong Compass // Zella Day
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concept of self COLBY BISHOP This photo series is a reflection of a combination of how I perceive myself with what others recognize about me. In this series I focus on on key features that people around me consider apart of my physical identity. The things I captured included my hair, hands, and ears. Hair is very expressive and can say a significant amount about someone. Hands are representative of someone’s livelihood, and my hands specifically are sharp, rigid, and odd. I included traditional portraits to separate the intimacy to give a clear comparison. The color choices are not just done for an interesting setting. Pink is representative of my soft nature and sends the message of emotional vulnerability. To accomplish this look and tone I used studio lights with gel filters to further the message of self identity.
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it’s not a phase, mom ABBY HARRIS
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a call for
PHOTOGRAPHERS Chroma Magazine is seeking submissions for our January issue! Email chromamag2015@gmail.com for more information.
CHROMA magazine